#jlajsdlf elias casting the archives: okay so we need our antichrist in training so let's pick a hot guy for him

[yellowocaballero]

“I could go on further about how Gerry is teen protagonist coded”

👀

Look. Gerry is a YA protagonist. He is. Guys. Come on. 

Parents had dramatic, yet ill-advised love story. Dad dies just after he was born. Taken by terrible, hard-ass mother to run around the world, learn how to fight demons, learn about the supernatural world, never staying anywhere for very long, never meet any other kids, never have any other friends. Trained since birth to be a monster hunter so he can continue on the family legacy. He rebels as a teenager and dramatically reinvents himself. Dramatically gets accused of killing his mother, almost gets sent to prison, doesn’t. Gets adopted by wise yet equally hard-ass mentor figure Gertrude Robinson, then jetsets around with her too. Appears randomly in other people’s lives, shows up just to save them from evil forces, disappears mysteriously into the night. Dies tragically. 

This is why everybody likes him so much! Everybody vibes with how obviously protagonist coded he is. He FEELS like a major character. Like, he isn’t, but the guy is seriously basically just Sam Winchester here. I think Gerry was a protagonist in a novel I wrote when I was 14. Come on.  For me he’s even more specifically a TEEN hero, which might be why he just feels teenagerey to me.

I can also say the same thing about Agnes. Chosen since birth to be the messiah of an apocalypse cult, raised in half-way homes and between clueless cultists, told she was going to destroy the world, yet chooses to reject that legacy because she wants to live a normal life, finally killing herself because she can’t achieve that life (Both Agnes and Gerry move furthest away from their YA roots in their very tragic endings - but TMA is a tragedy). That’s why I slapped them together in TCF, they are both YA protagonists. It’s very funny.

A little bit more off topic, but I’d argue that to an extent Tim is also protagonist coded. Tragic backstory, will-they-won’t-they with smart woman, hot and confident and funny and suave, yet with a lot of #innerpain. Sasha’s Love Interest coded. Martin’s....NPC coded. Daisy is also protagonist coded (to herself), but she’s definitely the protagonist of a very terrible and problematic 1970s cop movie which TMA then completely rips apart. 

And Jon’s antagonist coded. Jon’s supervillain coded. Which is REALLY interesting to me. 

I fuck around with these narratives roles almost every single time, because they’re super fun to fuck around with, and I think they reveal a lot about both the characters, and why we like the characters. I really do think the main reason why everybody likes Gerry so much is just the fact that he feels like a main character. 

Thanks for the ask!

#my writing #jon's the villain in so much of what i write because jon's a villain! he just is! #very tragic and sad villain with a sympathetic backstory but he's an evil little dude #who falls in love with a background character #which is a lot of fun to me #jlajsdlf elias casting the archives: okay so we need our antichrist in training so let's pick a hot guy for him #give him one potential love interest of a hot sexy guy #give him another potential love interest of a hot sexy librarian girl #haha bi rights amirite peter #aaaand ugly comic relief #there done #(this is why i hc all of the s1 archives as movie star hot except martin)